Thinking and Pre-birth Experience
From: Mike Helsher
Date: Sun Dec 7, 2003 10:41 am
Subject: Thinking and pre-birth experience
I recently read the first two lectures in
" The Foundations of Human Experience" (the study of
man). I was taken aback by the idea that our thinking stems from
our pre-birth experience and driven by antipathy. I don't have
the book with me right now, so I my have this all screwed up.
I do remember being fascinated and somewhat baffled by it all.
Antipathy relating to the past; sympathy relating to the seeds
of will and the future...
I wonder what lies in the center?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Truth and Love
Mike Helsher
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From: golden3000997
Date: Sun Dec 7, 2003 3:55 pm
Subject: Re: [anthroposophy_tomorrow] Thinking and pre-birth
experience
Hi Mike,
I would recommend getting the book & re-reading
it, because your question encompasses so much of its content.
Before people fall all over themselves with generalizations,
those particular points were specifically brought out in terms
of education and Threefold Man. We educate the Thinking (from
the past) through our "anti-pathy" that is born of
the karma between the teacher and the child, but we educate the
Will when we transform our inner antipathy to "sympathy"
ie, love (active - not mushy!). He is specifically referring
to the teacher's process of self-education and self-development.
We discussed in teacher training, and I have
found this to be true in my experience, that it is easy to walk
into someone else's class and feel really comfortable with those
children and have a nice, fun time with them and "teach"
them lots of cool stuff. But when one is confronted with one's
own class, the situation is very, very different! One wonders
"How did I end up with these little monsters?" They
seem destined to give their teacher trouble - and they are! Just
like I always advised the parents of the children I was teaching
- the destiny of your child is to drive you crazy! (and vice
versa). The whole point is transforming one's karma with one's
own child or children or one's class full of children. It is
in this process that real love in action can take place, real
karmic healing and real education.
Have you ever as a parent, looked at one of
your kid's friends who was over visiting and whispered in the
secret closet of your mind "why can't I trade my kid for
that one?" That's karma for you!!! If it was easy, you wouldn't
need the relationship! I told my parents that they were ancient
Romans who sent me (a poor little Christian) into the arena with
the lions. Come to think of it, they laughed, but didn't deny
it!! (My last serious boyfriend in this lifetime was the centurion
who pinched my bottom on my way through the Colosseum tunnel!)
I always refer to my particular brand of teaching
and, indirectly, parenting as a cross between Rudolf Steiner
and Erma Bombeck with a healthy dose of Bill Cosby thrown into
the mix. I don't have any children in this lifetime (gee, what
did I do RIGHT?) but I have been a live in nanny in quite a few,
widely disparate families, so I have lived in the mix, so to
speak and know it intimately.
In the preface to her book "Motherhood,
the Second Oldest Profession", my special guru, Erma Bombeck
writes about receiving a letter from a woman in prison for murdering
her own children. The woman found some of Erma's books in the
prison library and she said that if she had known that she was
allowed to laugh at herself and the situation, she probably wouldn't
have done what she did. I cried when I read that, as Erma certainly
did. Humor is, indeed, a life and death matter. Sometimes, I
think certain Waldorf people could use a healthy dose!
Happy Second Advent Sunday!
Christine
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From: Michael Helsher
Date: Sun Dec 7, 2003 5:04 pm
Subject: Re: [anthroposophy_tomorrow] thinking and the pre-birth
experience
Wow Christine, your post really rocks. I have
the book and I am trying to find time to read it. But like most
of the staples, it is not an easy read.
I really loved the real-life experience that you shared; this
speaks volumes to me. I learned about carpentry in a brand new
trade school with a wood-shop big enough to build a house in,
and that we did on several occasions. We had all the best tools
(but mostly bad teachers) and did get some hands on experience,
but life in the real world has been my best teacher. I do now
appreciate the foundation that I established there though.
So, some 25 years later, here I am building up an even stronger
foundation. But this time I think that I have some much better
teachers (yourself included).
That was truely a sad story about the mother that killed her
children. And I agree that "humor is a life and death matter".
And I also know many Waldorf people that could use a good dose
as well. Doesn't the big wooden statue that Steiner carved have
a representation of humor at the top?
I like the High School training that I am in now because Humor
is emphasized as a must when dealing with teenagers, and we had
many genuine laughs this past summer. We even made up a game
called "Steiner says" and quoted all kinds of steinerific
Lingo at each other.
To quote Emily Sailers again: "you have to laugh at yourself,
because you'll cry your eyes out if you don't."
(incedentally, the Indigo girls do a smokin live version (IMO)
of "Tangled up in Blue")
Thanks again Christine
Truth and Love
Mike Helsher
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